Insects come in threes?

So, I literally just hung up a video chat with my parents (who by the way are doing great and just returned wonderful trip on the Southern Illinois winery tour with friends) and I stood up to turn off the light for the night (trying to go to bed early) when out of the corner of my eye I spied a HUGE creature on the corner of the couch closest to the window.
Since being attacked that evening a couple of weeks ago I realized I needed to document the intruding insect with a photo, so my first reaction was...Grab the camera! I snapped the photo but realized that I couldn't quite see what I was going to have to deal with so I stood on my other couch and zoomed in on said intruder.

I knew this thing looked like a beetle but since arriving in Brasilia, everyone's been telling us stories about cicadas here. Being from Illinois I know what locusts and cicadas are. Heard 'em, wore their shells on my shirt as a child at Gram's house and know they can't hurt you. But never ever have I had a 2.5 inch bug in my own home.

Since the intruder was close to the window I figured I could grab the broom and flick him out the window. Then I thought, I know who could help me. Andrea. So I grabbed my phone and gave her a call. It wasn't as if I wanted her to walk across the field to rescue me, more than I wanted to know what I was dealing with. She didn't pick up but I left her a message seeking the moral support needed to remove a gigantic insect from my home.

As I hung up I realized I was going to have to "take care of this" all by myself. I walked back toward the couch giving myself the "Little Engine that Could" pep talk. I think I can, I think I can. I put the broom under the edge of the cushion and gave it the perfect flick. And the sucker hung on! So then I had this dangling intruder on my couch. I gave the insect another flick and it sailed off. Unfortunately my second flick was not quite strong enough so it hit the wall and then fell to the floor. At this instant, I screamed. Shortly afterward I heard my neighbors closed their window.

After gathering up my courage again, I peeked behind the couch and saw the insect, which I could then tell and have now processed was a beetle. I went back into the kitchen and grabbed the dustpan. At this point I didn't know how active the beetle would be. Would it fly if I moved anything? Would it freak out and fly all around and bounce all over? Would I cause my neighbors to close another window by it flying all around and me screaming again? So many questions but alas, not time to reflect. It was time to deal with the situation.I tried to sweep said insect into the dustpan but the thing hung onto the floor. He was a strong guy for sure. After several sweeps I finally got him to move/walk onto the dustpan. I leaned out the window and shook the dustpan once. The beetle didn't move. I shook the dustpan harder a second time. Still hung on. I didn't even know that anything could hang onto a slick surface like a dustpan. So the third time I shook the dustpan a little more violently hoping that the beetle would shake off outside rather than somehow coming back in. And finally success. Yea! I knew I could do it, the whole time I did.

Andrea called a few minutes later. She had been on the phone with her mom. She told me she was proud of me for calling and asking for help. I think it was more of a chicken move but regardless it was good to have her support. She's the one who reminded me of the 3's here.

I've had 3 insect encounters since arriving in Brasilia. 1. roaches in the apt, 2. crazy attacking subterranean termites (Sam's research - not sure still because don't have a photo) and 3. daredevilish strong beetle.

Also did you know that it takes 3 shakes to get a beetle off of a dustpan? One. Ah Two-who. Three. Just like the Tootie Pop commericial. Only I think the owl is much cuter than this beetle though.

And how many photos does it take to be done with all this insect fun? I may never know because when I google "beetles in Brasilia, Brazil" all I get are images of VW Beetles. Very popular cars here but not helpful for insect identification. Good luck to all of you entomologists out there!